


Time Out

by DestinyFreeReally



Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-25 18:58:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13840974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DestinyFreeReally/pseuds/DestinyFreeReally
Summary: Mac's stressed, Brian's lingering, and Sloan's asking the right questions.





	Time Out

    "Can I ask a question?" Sloan came in charging, and sometimes when she did that Will turned out to not actually be in Will's office. But he was at his desk, looking over his glasses at her, and she charged.

     "I'm just gonna assume you're gonna ask it, anyw-" Will started.

     "I'm gonna ask it, anyway," Sloan interjected. Crossing her arms over her chest, she frowned. "Why Brian?" She paused. "I get what you're doing here, Will, at least- I'm trying to get it, but I still have a few follow-ups, and the big one, the big follow-up-"

     "Why Brian?" Will sensed a Sloan-spiral coming on, and he wanted to head that off if he could.

     "Why Brian," Sloan repeated, with a nod. In her world, where Will was one of her best friends, one of her biggest supporters, one of her favorite people- in that world, Will had a really good reason, a really good answer.

     "Mackenzie told you who Brian is?" Asking if only to stall, Will couldn't explain exactly why it had to be Brian- sure, he had his reasons- but outloud, he knew they kept falling a little flat.

     Sloan's glare hardened, and she sighed her way into the other chair in Will's office, clearly not going away.     
  
    "I said something like, oh he's cute, and Mac... clarified some of the history there. So," Sloan's attention snapped back. "Why Brian? I don't like him, and I don't like his questions, and he doesn't seem all that great, so why Brian? Cause if you brought him here just to punish Kenzie-"

     "Mackenzie's not a kid in time-out, she's not being punished," lighting a cigarette and shaking his head, Will sighed. "He's doing a story about the show, he needs the break and we need him to do it; that's all. It's a couple of weeks, he'll ask his questions and then that'll be it. It just has to be him, it has to Brian," Will shrugged. Outside the office, he could see Brian, talking to Jim. They were laughing. "She's not being punished," he promised, and tried not to think about how many hours Mac had been hiding in her office. Maybe from Brian, maybe from him, he stiffened.

    "Believe me, Mac is very much being punished by him being here, and if you don't know that then you're a bigger idiot than Brenner is." Abruptly, Sloan got up, frowned his way for a second, and left Will's office.  
  
    Looking out, at Brian and Jim still laughing, Will leaned back in his chair and finished his cigarette. It would only be a couple of weeks, a couple of questions; that was all.


End file.
